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Just got suspended for "intellectual infringement", any ideas?
 

Just got the following suspension message, perfect 100% feedback, no returns, no prior complaints, no ⊗⊗⊗⊗ complaints, nothing prior. This account is approximately one year old or so. How do you think I should proceed?

Your Amazon.com selling privileges have been removed
View notification header Feb 25, 2017 (a day ago)


Hello,

We received a report from a rights owner that you are listing counterfeit items. As a result, you currently may not sell on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, or Amazon.com.mx.

To sell on Amazon again, please send us a plan that explains how you will address this problem. For help creating your plan, search for "Appeal the Removal of Selling Privileges" in Seller Central Help. When you are ready to send us your plan, click the Appeal button next to this message on the Performance Notifications page in Seller Central (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/...fications.html).

In addition to the plan, please provide any of the following:
-- A retraction from the Rights Owner that submitted the complaint.
-- Copies of invoices or receipts from your supplier issued in the last 365 days. These should reflect your sales volume during that time along with contact information for your supplier, including name, phone number, address, and website.

Once we receive your plan, we will review it and decide whether you may sell on Amazon again. If you do not send an acceptable plan within 17 days, we may cancel your offers.

If we determine there was an infringement violation, then we may permanently withhold any payments to you. In addition, if you have FBA inventory of these items, they may be destroyed at your expense.

For more information, search for “Intellectual Property Violations” in Seller Central Help.

We may allow you to relist these items if we receive a retraction from the rights owner. Please refer to previous messages for their contact information.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Re: Just got suspended for "intellectual infringement", any ideas?
 

All very good but are the items actually f@ke?

If they aren't then use your supplier invoices etc to prove that they aren't.

Re: Just got suspended for "intellectual infringement", any ideas?
 

"Counterfeit" doesn't only mean f**e items. That could also refer to the distribution channels (i had an issue with the distribution channels a long time ago and had to switch suppliers). Best thing to do in this situation is to send in the documents. If all's well, they will reinstate your account.

Re: Just got suspended for "intellectual infringement", any ideas?
 

Happens. Even if it's legit a lot of brands don't want third party sellers. Look what happened with NFL stuff. Tons of sellers suspended. Anyway make a good plan of action and send the invoices they want. Good chance to get the account back. I wouldn't worry. Good luck.

Re: Just got suspended for "intellectual infringement", any ideas?
 

Thank you for the response, appreciate it. I sell brand name items but purchased through retail arbitrage unfortunately. I've actually managed to get back at least 10 accounts in the past through appeals providing retail receipts instead of invoices... So I know that the consensus is usually that invoices are the only way to do it with, but I've done it with receipts so maybe I'll try again. The problem with this particular suspension is that they didn't provide me with any ASINs of items that are in question, I carry over 500 ASINs... several different brands. Also in the past my suspensions have always been due to retarded buyers screaming inauthentic and returning the items, so I was well aware of which items I need to submit receipts for. In this case, it's unclear what item is in question, and it looks like maybe someone from the brand has contacted Amazon? It's hard to believe, since I'm in a category competing with hundreds of other sellers selling exact same products I do. If the BRAND owner actually complained about me, there would be another 200 Sellers suspended right now, which has not happened, so I assume I was somehow singled out or perhaps it's another seller that have sent a message acting like the brand owner? Is that possible?

Re: Just got suspended for "intellectual infringement", any ideas?
 

Anything is possible. But don't chase the mice in your head. Keep it simple. Assume it actually was the intellectual property owner. Create a plan of action. Like you said you have done this many times. Send it to seller performance email. You can mention they didn't specify an Asin. They will tell you what they need. Attach some invoices anyway. I have learned in the past. They reply faster to messages with attachments. Good luck and keep us updated.

Re: Just got suspended for "intellectual infringement", any ideas?
 

Very good advice!

Ask them which products are in question and you will get them invoices.

Re: Just got suspended for "intellectual infringement", any ideas?
 

Decent approach.

Re: Just got suspended for "intellectual infringement", any ideas?
 

I agree with Elmo here. You can't write a plan of action not knowing which products they received complaints about. Politely ask them for the rights holder information and product information.

Re: Just got suspended for "intellectual infringement", any ideas?
 

Thank you guys, appreciate it. I called the main line at Amazon and got connected to Darin C who was very helpful today. He was also confused by the vague message, and he said that the only thing he can see is that it was regarding "Kate Spade" brand, and it was from the complaint came from the brand itself. His advice was to get all my invoices/receipts for the last 365 days and send them in. He laughed about the brand owner retracting their complaint and said that large brand names like that are not likely to give you the time of day anyway.

I asked him how likely is it that it came directly from Kate Spade? He thought it was very likely... I find that hard to believe. Kate Spade has about 20 sellers on every item listed on Amazon. Let me get this straight, from all of the hundreds of Sellers, they decided that my name looked strange enough to file a complaint against lol. Just search Kate Spade and look at the amount of Sellers on that brand, it's insane. Some have as low as 30% positive feedback, some are brand new sellers with no feedback. I have had 100% positive feedback, 0 ODR, 0 returns, 0 complaints, 0 late shipping, 0 authenticity, 0 A to Z, absolutely perfect account, about 1 year old...

Re: Just got suspended for "intellectual infringement", any ideas?
 

So here is an interesting scenario - You are in a very competitive field, with many sellers selling the same product. You decide to get rid of some of the competition. Can you send an email to Amazon, pretending to be the Brand Owner, and complain that someone is selling your brand without your permission? I believe there are tons of ways to send someone a message/email that "appears" to be coming from specific email address lol... Furthermore, Amazon's system allows you to send a message pretty much anonymously. Lets say that you sign it with the Real name and information of one of the brand attorneys as you have seen this before and know who they are (even a simply google search can give you that information)

Re: Just got suspended for "intellectual infringement", any ideas?
 

New email just received, anyone heard of this before? Not sure if the person filing the complaint is legit or not:

Hello,

We still need more information about your plan to address rights owner complaints.

If you want to resolve this dispute, contact the rights owner:
--enforcement@v3pmshield.com

If resolved, ask the rights owner to contact us at notice@amazon.com to withdraw their complaint.

To sell on Amazon.com again, please send us a plan that explains
-- The issues that caused the complaints.
-- The actions you took to resolve the issues and prevent similar complaints.

Do not limit your plan to issues with specific orders. For help creating your plan, search for "Appeal the Removal of Selling Privileges" in Seller Central Help. To send us your plan, click the Appeal button next to this email on the Performance Notifications page in Seller Central.

We will review your plan and decide if you may sell on Amazon.com again.

To learn more about our policies, search for "Intellectual Property Violations" in Seller Central Help.

To talk to someone about this email, ask our Seller Support team to contact you (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/hz/contact-us).



Sincerely,

Seller Performance Team
Amazon.com
https://www.amazon.com